Improvement in



No. 38,702. l PATENTED MAY 26, 1s63.-

c. M. SPENCER. Y

MAGAZINE PIRBARM.

TJNITEE STATES PuLiTENT OFFICE. i

CHRISTOPHER M. SPENCER, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS IMPRQVEMENT IN.MAGAZINE FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters'Patent No. 378,702, dated May 26,1863; antedated January 31, 1863.

To all whom it l Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER M. SPEN- CER, ofBoston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Repeating' Fire-Arms;and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyin gdrawings, forming part of this 'Specification, in which- Figure 1 is aside view of the breech and parts of the stock and barrel of a repeatinghre-arm having my invention applied.. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinalvertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a top'view of the Same. Fig. 4is a side view of the movable breech detached from the arm.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the Severaliigures.

This invention relates to that description of repeating hre-arms inwhich loading at the breech is effected automatically from a magazinewithin the stock.

It consists, iirst,"'-in making the passage through which the cartridgespass from the magazine into the barrel within a movable breech-piece,which is constructed and applied to swing vertically from points nearits rear end, whereby some important advantages over previousconstructions and arrangements of the said passage are obtained, as willbe hereinafter explained.

It also consists in certain means of operating a so constructed andapplied breech-piece for the purpose of loading from the magazine in thestock; and, further, in a certain mode of applying in combination withsuch breechpiece and of producing the operation of a device forwithdrawing the discharged shells of the cartridges from tnc barrel.`

To enable .Others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describeits construction and operation.

. A is the breech-frame, which connects the barrelE with the stock F,having provided in `it a vertical longitudinal parallel-sided opening,all, for the'reception ofthe movable breech piece B, which is fittedsnugly thereinto. and secured therein by means of two screw-pivots, I)1),..1screwing through the sides of the frame at opposite points, andIentering pivot-holes provided for them in the sides vof thebreechpiece, near the rear end thereof. The front end of thebreech-piece B is of the form of a cylindrical are concentric with theaxis of the pivots b b, and the front end of the opening a a in thebreech-frame isof corresponding form. The rear end of the saidbreech-piece is rounded,'to permit its oscillating movement. The said4breech-piece is bored longitudinally and centrally, or nearly so, asshown in Fig. 2,

to form the passage of communication, c c, between' the magazine C inthe stock and the chamber of the barrel, the said passage being largeenough for the cartridges to pass freely through it, and formingpractically a portion of the magazine, as it may belong enough tocontain two, three, four, or more cartridges.

The cartridges in the magazine, arranged lone behind another, arepressed forward .toward the barrel by means of a Spiral` spring, d,placed behind them, so that when the front end of the passage c c isbrought opposite to the open chamber of the\ barrel, the severalcartridges in the magazine and .in the said passage are allowed to beall forced forward by the spring, and the front one is deposited Withinthe chamber in position for firing, when the chamber has been closed bythe depression of the breech-piece to bring the solid portions of itsface, which is above the passage c c, opposite to the barrel, and thecartridge in the chamber has been thus Separated from those in thepassage c c.

The movement of the breech-piece up and down Vupon the pivots b b is allthat is necessary to enable the repeated loading of the gun to beeifected, provided the Shells of the cartridges are expelled in the actof firing or drawn outthrough the rear of the chamber after every fire.`

In the hre-arm 4represented hanged cartridges are used, and the empty ordischarged shells are drawn out through the rear of the chamber and overthe breech-piece, which `must be depressed low enough for that puri poseafter every fire and before the elevation of the breech for reloading.

In the right-hand side of the breechpiece there is a groove, ef g, whoseform is shown in Fig. 4. The front part, e, of this groove has an upwardinclination toward the middle, f,

s asnoef which is nearly parallel with the' top vof the breech-piece,and the 1)ack part, g, has a downward directionfrom the part f. Thisgroove receives the end of a pin, h, which is secured to a-straightslide, D, which is fitted to work in suitable guides, t' t', secured tothe outside l condition and the pin Yh-"at'the front end ,of YthevgrOOvecfg, as nshown in Fig. 1, the breechpiece is in condition forlring. After firing,

' the slide D is drawn back by the knob h', and vthe pin h caused tomove back along the groove e fg. In moving along the portion c ofthe-said groove theisaid, pin presses against the lower side andVdepresses the breech-'piece low enough to expose the rear end of thechamber of the barrel openabove t to permitw the withdrawal of the emptycartridge-Shell. `Innnoving kalong the portion j' of the said groove thesaid pin produces no movement of the breech-piece, which is thuskeptfstationary long enough tov permit the withdrawal of" the shell bythe means provided for the purpose, and in moving along the part g ofthe said groove the said pin acts upon the upper side andpesses thebreech up to the position shown in Fig-v2, in whichthe passage c o isopen to the chamber toV permit the spring d to force forward thecartridges and deposit the front one inthe chamber,v

The` loading being now effected, the-slide D is. moved forward, and thepin h, in moving back along the groove gf e, brings back the breech tothe proper position to close the barrel andthe magazine. g

ln a groove in the top of the 'breech-piece B there is fitted a slide,j, upon which the rear end of the ham-mer G strikes to drive the said'slide forward, and drive its front end against the Vrear end of thecartridge in the chamber of the vbarrel to produce the explosion of then chargetherein.

Ontheright-hand side oi" the breech-piece,- betweenitand thecorresponding side of the opening a a in the frame B, there is arrangeda fiat plate' of steel, H, on the front upper corner of which is formeda hook, :kfwhich is capable of moving over the top'of the .breechpiece,for the purpose' of drawing outl the empty cartridge-shells-from thebai-Tel. [n this plate there are two narrow slots, m fm, which arefitted to slide two guide-pins,

l l, secured in the breech-piece B, Vthe two slots being so arranged asto bel parallel with the middle portion, f, ofthe groove c j' g in thebreech-piece B; and there lis also provided in the said plate a bentslot, a o, the front part, n, of which corresponds in width, length, anddirection with the front portion, e, ofthe groove e f g, and the backpart, o, of which corresponds with the party of the said groove.

When the breech is in the closed condition represented in Fig; 1 and theslide Din its most forward position, the pin h is at the front end ofthe slot n o vof the plate H, and the hook k is in a slight recessprovided for it in the front side of the opening a a, as shown in theFig. '1, and the part u of the slot a ois exactly opposite the part c ofthe groove e f The plate is free to move lengthwise of the breech-pieceon the pins l l, but in no RVother direction independently of thebreech-piece; f' n and while in the drawing back of thefslide D the-pinh,YV movesV along-the portion of their: Y

groove cf y, it also` moves along the portion` ln'of the groove a owithout moving the plate' E relatively to the breech-piece, with whichit descends, thus passing its hook k in front of the ilange of the emptyshell, if there be one inthe chamber; but when the pin t arrives in theportion fof ,the slot e f g it arrives Vagainst the upper side of thepart o of the slot n o, and draw-s back the plate H and hook k, whilethe breech-piece is-stationary in its depressed condition, andjso causesthe hook k -to draw -out the shell over the top of the breech, bringingthe portion o of the slot n o lopposite to the portion g of `the grooveef g, so that as the pin h completes itsbackward movement it may passalong o, 'and hence pen mit the plate H to move up and down with the'breech-piece, but prevent its 'being otherwise moved.

, To prevent the shell escaping from the hook .k a projection orguide-piece, p, is provided on the top of the `breech-piece opposite tothe hook k.

When the slide is moved forward again the pin h moves along o and gtogether, and does not move the plate H relatively to the breechpieceuntil it arrives-in the part f of the groove in the latter, when it`moves the plate and Aits hook g-forward, afterward moving along e and 'atogether. r v

- The rear ends of the slot a o and groovesV fg are cut a littledownward, as shown in Fig.` l, so that when the pin h is in, its mostfbackward position, the breech-piece may be' raised by hand high enoughto expose lits umouth above the front of the A-frame, to permit the.magazine to be filled with cartridges from the front, thereby savingthe trouble of taking out the feeding-springer opening the magazine atthe rear. Y

Instead of making the groovel e f q i'n the breech-piece and attachingthe slide D to the frame A, the groove may be in the frame, and theslide attached to the breech-piece,

By making the passage from the magazine to the barrel in 'a vertically,-swinging breech.- piece, the greatest'simplicity of construction thatis practicable in repeating re-armsis attained, and the great diiicultythat attends the movement ofthe cartridges through r ther kinds ofmovable breeches-viz., the catching of the cartridges at the rearorifice of the passage in the breech-is obviated,.a'sv the rear orificeof .the passage c c in the swinging breech-piece is always opposite tothe mouth of the magazine C, and the said passage forms at all times aforward continuation of the magazine.

I do not claim the invention of a verticallyswinging movable breech. Nordo I claim, broadly, providing, in a movable breech, a passage ofeolnmunieation between a magazine and the barrel; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. Combining a magazine in the stoel; of a tire-arm with the barrelthereof by means of a breeoh-piece, B, swinging from points near itsrear end, and having provided in it a passage, c c, which forms acontinuation of the magazine, substantially as herein specified.

2. Operating the swinging breech-piece by means of a slide, D, pin h,and groove e fg, applied Vand operating substantially as herein v setforth.

CHRISTOPHER M. SPENCER.

Witnessesv FRANK CHENEY, T. F. BoYNToN.

